A woman who dares…

Hot, smart, sexy forensic investigator Kate Quinn is finished with straitlaced—she’s determined to ditch her longtime nickname “Sister Kate.” And she’s getting tall, gorgeous, tough-as-nails deputy district attorney Jericho St. James to do it. But when a man she believes to be innocent is charged with murder, Kate’s world, not to mention her enticement of Jericho, soon gets complicated.

And the man who defends her…

Jericho has been holding back ever since he met Kate—never wanting to cross the line with a colleague. Now, however, Kate’s sensual ways and incredible new look have poked serious holes in his cool air of sleek sophistication. She happily obliges when he sinks to his knees in surrender and begs her to be his. Yet as the murder case reaches a fevered pitch, it’s Kate and Jericho who’ve put everything on the line…. For each other…For now…Forever.

2005 Nominee National Readers Choice Award

Harlequin Blaze | ISBN 0373791232 | January 2004 | BUY IT HERE

---

READ AN EXCERPT

She went past him, but she found herself stopped, pinned by his big body, the heat of his breath on the back of her neck. “Do you think I didn’t notice you in your red dress, Kate?”

The dark current in his voice threatened to pull her under, into heated, unknown depths. She writhed in his tight grasp, and the fluttering surge of desire caught her tight in a hot fist. “You pretended not to notice me at all, Jericho. Why do you think I wore the red dress?”

“You mean you changed your look for me? Damn, that turns me on. But what you don’t know is that I’ve fantasized about you from the moment I met you. You are sleeping, Kate, and I want to be the one to awaken you.”

Kate tried to speak, but her lungs heaved from the shock of his admission and his weight as he pressed her tighter to the wall.

“I thought it prudent to refrain from getting involved with a co-worker,” Jericho said, “But it hasn’t been easy to keep my hands off you.”

A spurt of anger made her reckless. Kate found her voice and said softly, “Who said anything about involvement? I want hot, raw, out-of-control sex.”

Jericho jerked away from her body. The silence between them stretched out. She wasn’t going to move or speak. She was going to torture him. Watch him twist in the flames with that knowing look in her eyes.

Kate shivered at the way his eyes searched hers as if he could see right through her. All the way down to the sweet, restless ache that pulsed inside her, where the wild woman waited, naked and willing and wanton. The knowledge of her deepest, hidden secret was bare in his eyes. He knew perfectly well how much she wanted him. He’d always known.

But it was only dawning on her now, this minute, how much he wanted her.

That turned her on. She tried to remember that this was supposed to be about teasing and begging, but she got lost in the swirl of his sinfully dark eyes.

Jericho gathered the mass of her hair into his hand and buried his face against the rippling mass. “Damn,” he said, in a harsh, muffled voice.

She let out a startled cry as he seized her, hauling her up against the hard contours of his body.

His arms tightened around her, and he stared into her eyes. As fierce and intent as if he could read her mind.

His heat scorched her. His muscles firm and hot, burning her through the thin fabric of her dress. His breath was as rapid as her own.

Jericho made a harsh sound deep in his throat, and his arms tightened around her with steely strength as if he read her purpose to only tease him relentlessly, making him get down on his knees and beg her.

With a mocking slant to his mouth, he fused his mouth to hers, a hot, devouring kiss unlike anything she had ever known or imagined. She was dragged into it headlong, intoxicated by his voracious energy, the taste of him almost familiar, yet not. He smelled so good-soap and starch, and a unique smell of his own, warm and enticingly like cinnamon. His jaw was rough; his sensual mouth coaxed hers open. Eager, bold and delicious.

She wanted to writhe against him, crawl inside his skin, touch everything, taste everything. He was so strong, bursting with fierce energy, and she ached with hunger for it. His thick shaft pressed against her, rock hard, radiating heat.

It was the press of his flesh to hers that brought her shockingly to her own senses. No. This was too easy. She was committed, and hurtling forward into the unknown, but it would be on her terms.

She pulled away from him and stepped back. She opened her mouth praying that something coherent would come out. “What do you want, Jericho?”

“You.”

“Good. I’ve wanted you for months, but you already knew that.”

A muscle pulsed in his jaw and his eyes narrowed. A prickle of unease mixed into the shimmering, giddy alchemy of her excitement.

Danger.

She wanted to stroke the fine, elegant planes of his face, to soothe the pulsations of need and desire that emanated from him. The scarlet of desire and gold of pleasure flashed across her in dazzling promise, like dream images.

“Kate. . . .”

She turned and walked away from him. It was the hardest thing she’d ever done, but she was determined to let him know that she wasn’t a pushover, that he couldn’t play her like a witness on the stand. This time she was going to call the shots.

She turned and gave him a coy look. “It’s your turn to wait.”

From the book: Mine To Entice
By: Karen Anders
Imprint and Series: Harlequin Blaze
Publication Date: 01/04
ISBN: TBA
Copyright ©: 2004
By Karen Alarie

® and * are trademarks of the publisher.
The edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S. A.
For more romance information surf to: http://www.eHarlequin.com